In a vehicle body rear structure for a vehicle provided with a battery pack for powering the electric motor for propelling the vehicle in a rear part thereof, it is known to support the battery pack in a rear cargo space with a pair of support frames extending in the fore and aft direction in parallel to each other, and to curve the rear end parts of the support frames away from each other so as to extend along the rear end of the battery pack. See JP2014-024453A.
According to this vehicle body rear structure, at the time of a rear end crash, the impact of the crash is absorbed by the deformation of the curved parts so that the battery pack is protected from the impact.
However, according to this vehicle body rear structure, the impact of a rear end crash can be absorbed only as long as the deformation of the support frames progresses. Therefore, upon completion of the deformation of the support frames, no further absorption of the impact can be expected so that the battery pack can be protected from the impact only to a certain extent.